Charice » Editorial

Charice in Chinese 夏芮絲

schoen — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 15:41:42 +0000

China is a huge market for Charice to conquer with 1/4 of the world’s population and Charice is slowly but surely making her way in with this brief interview at Estar TV. Estar TV is a very popular show in Taiwan and Hong Kong and we see Charice doing what she does best… charming her hosts. Thank you to Jem for translating the video and to SharisuCharice for subbing it.

Warner Brothers Taiwan also profiles Charice in their website, translated below by LantaoIslands. Charice was named International Artist of the month!

Chinese translation by Jem
中國的人口是世界人口的百分之二十五.對夏芮絲,中國是一個很大的市場,她必須贏得聽眾的讚譽. 她憑藉Estar TV的訪問逐漸地進入了中國市場. 在香港和中國Estar TV是很有名氣電視台.夏芮絲表現她最會做的事,就是把節目主持人迷住.感謝Jem翻譯這個影片和SharisuCharice幫我們放字幕.
臺灣華納音樂在網站寫夏芮絲的傳略由LantaoIslands翻譯. 臺灣華納音樂把夏芮絲稱為這個月的主打星!
Charicemania和全世界的Chasters(夏芮絲的粉絲)感謝Jem, SharisuCharice 與 LantaoIslands給我們更多的消息和幫助大家滿足我們對夏芮絲的成癮.
[影片]
[文章]

Warner Music Taiwan-Artist-International

Charicemania and Chasters around the world are grateful to Jem, SharisuCharice and LantaoIslands for more great news to feed our chaddiction!

用愛唱出生命奇蹟用歌聲撼動全世界
流行天后接班人
CHARICE『夏芮絲』同名專輯

3歲遠離家暴陰影、7歲開始走唱生涯、13歲備受國際矚目、18歲正式全球出道
美國最受歡迎電視節目【歐普拉秀】、【艾倫愛說笑】爭相邀演
超級製作人大衛佛斯特、世紀天后席琳狄翁、義大利男高音波伽利、美國脫口秀
主持天后歐普拉…等全球名人全力背書！
史上首度以亞洲藝人身分打入全美排行專輯榜前8名，寫下歷史新紀錄
擁有天底下最不可置信的完美歌聲、未來流行音樂天后接班人！

Source link: Warner Music Taiwan

流行天后接班人夏芮絲 The Next Queen of Pop Diva Charice

Video courtesy of Warner Taiwan

English translation:

She uses her love to sing out a miracle of life and she uses her songs to wow the world.

Pop star successor CHARICE with her debut album [CHARICE]

After leaving the shadow of family violence at the age of 3, Charice started singing when she was at age 7. By the time she was 13 years old, Charice has received widespread international attention. At the age of 18, her global presence became official with the rollout of her debut album. The most popular television programs in the US, like the Oprah Winfrey and Ellen shows, kept inviting Charice as their guest performer. World renowned celebrities such as super music producer David Foster, centennial singing Queen Celine Dion, Italian tenor singer Andrea Bocelli, and talk show queen Oprah Winfrey, they all fully endorsed Charice without any hesitations.

Charice has written the historical record of being the first Asian artist to enter the U.S. Billboard Chart at top 8 with her album. She has the most incredible perfect voice to become the successor of the Queen of Pop.

There are countless ways to become famous if one wants a dream to come true as a superstar in the music industry. Some simply get lucky on their road to stardom through people’s networking and some good looking ones join music recording companies as trainees. Some try the difficult way to be a street musician or send out audition demo tape recordings, hoping scouts will knock at their door one day. More difficult endeavors include continually participating in talent shows, waiting to land on an opportunity to become a star sometimes in the future.

Now we’re in the 21st century with science and technology getting more sophisticated. It’s not new to us to learn that someone all a sudden becomes famous through the Internet. Examples are the Paste Brothers who record their own music video, the Vanilla Sky Band, OK GO, our small Justin Bieber, Paul Potts from TV talent shows, little Connie and Susan Boyle. Their successes are all by virtue of Youtube uploads, with their performances spreading to every corner of the world. However, our Charice from the Philippines, the little girl who is able to sing with an extraordinary voice, is absolutely the best representative of all among those artists who get famous through YouTube.

Charice, whose real name is Charmaine Clarice Relucio Pempengco. At the age of 3, she left the family with her mother and brother after having enough family violence done to her mother by her father. To support the family, 7-year-old Charice participated in more than 80, big and small amateur singing contests. At the age of 13, she set herself on the stage of the singing talent show “Little Big Star” in the Philippines. She was eliminated in the course of competition but resurrected out of another election, and has placed third among winners in the finals. This did not help boost Charice’s popularity in a single attempt. She remained dormant for two years after the talent show until her enthusiastic supporters uploaded her past performances to Youtube. Since then, the name of “Charice” propagated all over the world, which eventually earned her the opportunity to get invited for her first overseas appearance in “Star King”, a variety show in South Korea while singing a duet with Kyuhyun of the Super Junior. And because of this performance, top talk show queen Ellen Degeneres in the United States personally invited Charice to sing in her television broadcasting program. Charice was getting famous again in the Philippines at her return from abroad. In 2008, her album released in the Philippines reached platinum in sales. The album included Charice’s cover songs from celebrities like Whitney Houston and the Broadway Dreamgirls.

In 2008, after Charice made her appearance in the U.S. top-rated television talk show program “Oprah Winfrey Show”, which is mostly desired to be participated by all singers, her life came to the biggest turning point. Oprah was deeply attracted by her amazing voice, and introduced her to top music producer David Foster who has composed album songs for Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, Mariah Carey and other singers like Josh Groban and Michael Bublé. David then signed Charice into his album recording company Reprise/143 Records, then took her to Madison Square Garden and to his “David Foster and Friends” musical concerts for more appearances to increase her popularity. Italian tenor singer Andrea Bocelli also invited Charice to sing in his birthday concert.

In 2009, Charice continued nonstop for her exposure in major public events. She appeared with Michael Buble in several Academy Awards after-party concerts and appeared as a 17-years-old at the Dodge Stadium to sing before an audience of nearly 60,000. She recorded the “Christmas Song” with American Idol David Archuleta and even participated in the movie “Alvin and the Chipmunks – the Squeakquel” to sing Alicia Keys’ “No One”!

In 2010, Charice finally released her debut album “Charice” which the world has been waiting for so long. This is her formal debut album release in a mainstream record company. After being newly remodeled, Charice demonstrated the matured taste of a great girl. David Foster, her mentor, is the main producer of her album. One of the songs in the album is “Note To God” which was release back in 2009 when Charice appeared in the Oprah Winfrey show for the third time. With the invitaton from David Foster, best-selling female music producer and creator Diane Warren (LeAnn Rimes, Faith Hill) composed the song just tailored for Charice. The main song “Pyramid” is a duet with Iyaz, who is a British R&B male artist belonging to JR Rotem for hip-hop albums. With its hip-hop rhythm and remarkably memorable lyrics, the song has landed second in the U.S. Billboard Hot dance charts.

Another album song “Did It For You” on the last track is composed by Ryan Tedder, who is the frontman from the famous OneRepublic band and is a duet with Drew Ryan Scott who is a member of the U.S. boy band “Varsity Fanclub”. It’s a matured love song at mid-rhythm with immense power. Charice vividly revealed her superb singing ability in the album. She sings with such a high-pitched voice as if it can break through the horizon. Through her little body, she conveyed her songs as messages to all who can listen to her and conquered numerous audience. No wonder after the album was release, it landed as No. 8 on the U.S. Billboard album chart in the first week. This achievement surpasses our senior singers Rain, Coco Lee, Seiko Matsuda and Hikaru Utada, to become the first to land on Top 8 in the U.S. Billboard album chart as a glory for Asia!

Charice is definitely not a transient music miracle, nor is she a lucky singer who reached sky high at one step. Charice has such strong passions that she never lets herself down in the face of defeats. With her unprecedented determination, she polished again and again her singing skill step by step to make her dreams come true. Perhaps because of such a determined personality coupled with her rare perfect voice, so many famous international celebrities were deeply moved by her and helped to pave the road for her dream to become a singer to come true. David Foster even guaranteed that Charice will be the most talented singer one has ever seen and will be one of the world’s brightest super stars!

Source link: Warner Music Taiwan
Translated by LantaoIslands

Charice on Estar.TV w/ English Subtitles

Video courtesy of Estar.TV/uploaded-subbed by SharisuCharice/translated by Jem

Charice 夏芮絲 Pyramid Taiwan 流行天后接班人愛的金字塔

Video uploaded by SharisuCharice

Facebook: Warner Music Taiwan Video

Charice featured in Sisy’s World News, CTi News with English Subtitles

Video uploaded by CTV Crew

Chinese Blogsearch: 夏芮絲

Posted by Schoen

Let’s Read and Write: Charice, The Foreign Way!

Mooffin — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 14:55:39 +0000

Charice, by any other name, sounds just as sweet.

Do you know how “Charice” is written in another language? For example, in Japan, she is known as “シャリース” or Sharisu. Do you know how her name is written in Russian or Arabic or Hebrew or any other language other than English? If you do, help us in compiling a list of her name in different languages!

Here is what we have so far:

THAI ชารีส

CHINESE 夏芮絲

JAPANESE シャリース Sharisu

KOREAN 채리스

ARABICﺵﺮﻳﺲ

(Click on the image to check out some of Charice’s photos from her recent Asia Promo Tour)

Please include how it is written in the language you know and the alphabetized version as well. (For example, シャリース and Sharisu.) The goal is to have chaster youtube uploaders copy and paste this list in the “tags” section of their videos so that any old or new chaster or those who are just curious about her of any nationality are able access her videos. When we have compiled everything, we will post another announcement for youtube uploaders.

The beauty of Charicemania is that we who are part of it are scattered all over the world and we have the power to help make her a global star! Join us in our bid to make her a household name worldwide!

Posted by Mooffin

How Charice was Cast in ‘Glee’

max — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:08:36 +0000

LOS ANGELES — When we interviewed director Ryan Murphy in Cancun, Mexico about “Eat Pray Love,” his film with Julia Roberts, we grabbed the chance to ask him how he came to cast Charice Pempengco in his hit TV show “Glee.”

“I knew of Charice because she was on ‘Oprah,’” began Ryan, casual in an all-white outfit in a Ritz Carlton meeting room with a stunning view of the Yucatan Peninsula coastline. “I saw those clips of her singing. One of the producers had heard of her, too, and met with her. I had to meet her, myself. She came in — she’s so tiny and cute. I thought we were just going to be introduced. I’d heard her album. She said, ‘Do you want me to sing for you?’ I said, ‘Okay.’ She opened her laptop… she had a demo—she hit play and she sang. She was in my office for half an hour. When that girl opens her mouth, angels fly out.”

“I was just so taken by Charice,” enthused the director, who created the series about a high school glee club, which won the Golden Globe Best TV Series-Musical or Comedy early this year and earned 19 nominations in the coming Emmy Awards. “I loved her spirit. I loved the story of her and her mother. She was just so proud telling me that she had bought her mother a house. So it went from just being a meeting to, ‘Oh, I have to put that girl in that show somehow.’ So we’re writing her a really good role. She’s going to start in the first episode of the new season. I’m really happy. That’s one of those things where somebody walks in and you’re just so touched that you say, ‘I have to write something for you.’ So that’s how it happened.

We asked Ryan, who also created the acclaimed FX drama series “Nip/Tuck” and directed the feature film “Running with Scissors,” to confirm if Charice’s character is a recurring one that we’ll see in coming seasons. He answered, “You never know with that show, but Charice’s role is the same size that Jonathan Groff’s character had this year—her character is not in every episode but she will be in a lot of episodes. She is the rival of Lea Michele’s character. That’s what Charice plays. I wanted to do a diva-off thing.”

Casting controversy

On the controversy about stories announcing that the Filipina singing sensation has been cast in the phenomenally popular show before it was made official, Ryan said with a smile, “I heard about that.”

Asked about a feature film version of “Glee,” Ryan demurred, saying, “I don’t know. I always thought that if I was going to do a ‘Glee’ movie, it would be like the Madonna episode. But it would be an event. We’re going to be on after the Super Bowl this year. We’re going to do a big tribute episode to a big artist and that’s going to be an event. I have a philosophy about television like, if you have an idea, don’t hold it back for six months because you may no longer be on the air by that time. Do it now. Use your weapons that you have now. That’s what makes for really lively, exciting television because there’s a lot of story that you move through, as opposed to little dollops.”

‘Glee’ tour

Ryan revealed plans for the next “Glee” concert tour. “The first tour was so big and unexpectedly popular,” he remarked. “I had never directed a tour before. I didn’t know what the hell I was doing but it worked. So next year, we’re going to do 45 to 60 dates. This year, we did 12 dates. We’re going to do a really big tour and maybe we’ll film that. Maybe we’ll do that as a movie. But I don’t know what a ‘Glee’ movie would be. Also, the thing about television is that you need to go away for a while. Let people miss you. If you’re on a tour and in a movie, they may be like, ‘Enough, it’s too much.’ So I don’t want to kill it.”

“Glee’s” second season, in which Charice debuts, is on Sept. 21. Javier Bardem, who co-stars in “Eat Pray Love,” and John Samos are the other stars appearing in the series set in McKinley High School. Also in store are episodes highlighting the songs of Britney Spears, a tribute to the cult camp classic “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” and another ode to Madonna. There’s a lot of speculation as to who the “big artist” will be featured in the episode which Ryan mentioned will be shown after the Super Bowl.

Source: Excerpt from Inquirer.net

Posted by Max

Charice Tops Japan Music Charts

Charicematic — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 23:15:04 +0000

Japan has an affluent and modern society with a population of about 127 million people. Many Westerners do not realize it, but Japan boasts the world’s second-largest pop music market–right after the United States, representing almost 20% of total worldwide sales. A full priced new CD album costs between JPyen 2,500 (US$23) and 3,000 (US$28). A total of 461.9 million song downloads were sold in Japan in 2009. So if you are in the business of selling music then Japan is one of your major markets and should not be overlooked.

Sometimes people in the West are surprised when they find out that an up-and-coming artist like Charice is “big in Japan”. Most people don’t care about this distinction but when you consider Japan is the 2nd largest market next to the USA, even “small in Japan” can mean big revenues for a record label.

Album Sales and Market Value
Men and women in their teens and twenties purchase the greatest number of records. Japanese pop and rock music is particularly popular among them. Only 1 in every 4 CD’s sold in Japan is from a foreign artist. Trying to crack this market requires boatloads of luck, as well as making the connections and effort to market artists properly to a new audience that expects its heroes to speak its language.

Charice Tops Japan Music Charts
Props to Team Charice for carefully coordinating a publicity campaign to build the appropriate “buzz” around the CD release — everything came together as they had hoped and more! Let’s hope the momentum keeps building…

Click image to enlarge

HMV Japan
Latest issue of HMV Japan flyer featuring Charice as HMV’s hot picks. HMV Japan opened its first store in 1990 and is now one of the best known brands in the country with 57 stores and a major online presence.

Click image to enlarge

Fan Talk: Charice Tops Japan Music Charts – Episode 15, July 30

~ by Team Charicemania

Teenager With A Bright Future

eve — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 11:50:37 +0000

Album Review from South Africa, Tonight Entertainment Guide.

Currently riding high on world charts with her first single, the anthemic love song Pyramid, 18-year-old Charice, originally from the Philippines and now based in the US, is officially the first Asian in history to land in the Top 10 of the Billboard 200 album chart.

She is causing great excitement among executives at America’s Reprise Records, who label her a star with a great future and are passionate about her newly released, eponymous debut album, produced by Grammy-winner David Foster.

” There’s some good stuff here. One gets the expected mix of power ballads and upbeat songs, including the Pyramid single, of course. By far the album highlight, it features Iyaz and opens the collection. A close second is the album’s 12th cut, Note to God, a strong and memorable ballad which best showcases the undeniable talent of this gifted youngster.

Her voice here is packed with power and emotion, sounding like a Christina-meets-Whitney blend and the song is of note for Charice’s long hold of a final note. Nice stuff.

Featuring songs penned by A-listers such as Ryan Tedder, Diane Warren and Carole Bayer Sager, the collection is sleek and glossy, and sure to sell up a storm. “

Charice first appeared in the US on The Ellen DeGeneres Show and then came to the attention of Foster, who signed her to his company.

Great things are predicted for the young woman, who singing star Josh Groban has gone on record to state has one of the most beautiful voices he has heard in a long time.

Charice has been widely labelled as a vocal prodigy for being able to sing “big songs” even at her tender age. The teen’s vocal quality has been compared with that of Whitney Houston and Celine Dion.
.

She is such hot stuff at the moment . that she has reportedly been snapped up to star in a recurring role in the new season of hit musical-drama television series Glee. She will reportedly play a foreign exchange student with astounding vocals who will present serious competition to lead character Rachel Berry, played by Lea Michele.

Things started to happen quickly for Charice in 2008, when she appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show in an episode entitled World’s Smartest Kids, where she performed Whitney Houston’s I Have Nothing. When she later guested on the Dreams Come True episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show, Winfrey referred to Charice as “the most talented girl in the world”.

The teenager sang Celine Dion’s My Heart Will Go On, with Foster on piano, after which Winfrey surprised her with an appearance by Celine Dion via satellite. Dion then invited Charice to sing a special duet at New York City’s Madison Square Garden as part of her Taking Chances tour.

As for Charice’s debut album, it’s a pity the cover is so surprisingly bland and forgettable, unlikely to attract any attention from music store browsers, because there’s some good stuff here.

One gets the expected mix of power ballads and upbeat songs, including the Pyramid single, of course. By far the album highlight, it features Iyaz and opens the collection.

A close second is the album’s 12th cut, Note to God, a strong and memorable ballad which best showcases the undeniable talent of this gifted youngster.

Her voice here is packed with power and emotion, sounding like a Christina-meets-Whitney blend and the song is of note for Charice’s long hold of a final note. Nice stuff.

Featuring songs penned by A-listers such as Ryan Tedder, Diane Warren and Carole Bayer Sager, the collection is sleek and glossy, and sure to sell up a storm.

By Billy Suter, tonight.co.za

Why Do We Love Charice?

schoen — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 19:09:59 +0000

JULY 30 UPDATE: Pocketbook edition is now available for download.

We would like to show our love and support for our dear Princess Charice. Team Charicemania would like to start by dedicating this page just to give her one message: We Love You Charice!

Chasters, you are all welcome to comment, please limit your message to only one sentence. Charice is so busy but we would try to reach out to her to read all our messages. Please understand that long comments or messages are subject to editing or will be deleted or the off-topic ones.

Please use this as our standard message. Feel free to include your location
(country? state/province? city?)

“I love you Charice because…”

“…you have handled fame and fortune so well, and you still are so humble and grateful.” ~ Max, Arkansas

“…you gave me so much more than I could ever give you back.”
~ Schoen, Germany

“…you mesmerize me with your sweet voice and performance, bring tears to my eyes that I just wanna hug you with your heartwarming story.” ~ Eve, Washington

“… you are REAL, real talent that does not require autotune nor lip-sync; Real person who lacks pretensions; and Real inspiration with a sincerely pure heart.”
~ DrTp, California

“…you are generous, kind and compassionate.” ~ Mooffin, Japan

“…you are the real deal and a very precious gift from God.” ~ Madz, Canada

“…you are a fighter …not giving up easily regardless of the struggles you´re facing in.” ~ AnonymousFanatic, Thailand

“…you make everyone happy, you make me smile.” ~ Noellen, Hong Kong

“…your life story as a singer is an inspiration to people.” ~ Capofret, Singapore

“…you inspire me to be better everyday.” ~ Tintol, Philippines

“…you make the Filipino people stronger, more united, more in love with the country and more connected with each other. ~ ADMIN, Vancouver

Reminder: Thank you for your overwhelming love and support. May we just remind you to please limit your comments to one sentence to allow Charice to read as many as she can in the limited time that she has. We want to tell her why we love her so please start your comment with “I love you Charice because you…”

Why Do We Love Charice – Pocketbook, 1st Edition
The Pocketbook edition (hard copy) will be presented to Charice during the Grammy Block Party, Meet & Greet in Santa Monica, California on July 31st. Feel free to download, print, turn into a greeting card, or whatever Charice projects you might be working on. It’s yours, baby! THANK YOU Chasters!

Click “View Full Screen” icon to enlarge

by Team Charicemania

Charice: It Ain’t Really What It Seems

eve — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 00:52:53 +0000

I’m continuously horrified by watching the career progression of a prodigiously talented singer from the Philippines trying to ascend through the ranks of the Secular Corporate American Music System.

Let’s call it SCAMS for short.

Charice Pempengco is the real-deal and everyone who knows her story, including the Ultimate Fairy Godmother Oprah Winfrey, wants this girl to win. Raised by a single mother who abandoned their abusive father which doomed them to the slums of the Philippines as a result, Charice and Her Voice entered singing contests starting at the crazy young age of seven (read: Michael Jackson) to help support her family.

It is not hyperbole to say this small child had the vocal ability of Whitney Houston and Celine Dion as adults, before she was even ten years old. By stroke of luck or fate or both, one of the more than 100 talent contests she entered in her homeland was filmed, and a year later a video of her singing “I Will Always Love You” with unbelievable vocal power hit Youtube. A producer at Oprah Winfrey saw it and Charice was promptly “rescued”– whisked to Chicago and onto the Oprah show with a title bestowed by her Fairy Godmother as “The Most Talented Girl In The World.”

Charice subsequently wowed the world through Oprah, met her idol Celine, and got a record deal with Celine’s one-time producer David Foster – someone with a gigantic track record in the past but who hasn’t had a #1 contemporary (read: young) POP hit in over a decade. But he could immediately secure Charice an arranged marriage with Warner Brothers/Reprise through his imprint distributed by the corporate behemoth, called 143 Records. The SCAMS still think you actually need a record deal to become a legitimate recording star. Meanwhile, she had already broken worldwide from the internet and TV.

How can the Pempengco family possibly navigate through our matrix? There’s been many others before them, the story as old as Hollywood itself: what’s yo’ dream? Charice and her mom were happy to be out of the ghetto and on the road to hers. There is no assigning blame for those humble desires.

And so it was. Crusty Foster of all people, whose production consistently appeals to the 40+ demo, emerges as the sudden Svengali to a ridiculously talented 16 year-old girl. His most recent proteges are Josh Groban and Michael Buble. While both are credible and successful, they aren’t relevant to pop radio at all– we’re talkin’ straight grandpa jams.

Like it or not, Charice’s peers and main chart competitors are kids her age, hello— Justin Bieber and Miley Cyrus. Except she has more raw talent than the both of them, the Jonas Brothers and damn near every Idol to hit the stage rolled together into one boring Seacrest recap. This is not up for argument from anyone with ears.

It is such a missed opportunity for the whole music business, one collapsing and needing to figure out every single way they can develop authentic talent that will grow alongside a 70-million-strong Millennium Generation, it makes me want to scream.

The reality is: if you don’t have a hit song it doesn’t matter how well you sing.

But the few who have that incredible gift, with once-in-a-lifetime uniqueness (demonstrated by her heritage alone) are the artists who change EVERYTHING.

That is why Charice Pempengco is so important.

Showbiz is who ya know, kids. David Foster is a close friend of Oprah’s and I believe the ONLY person in the music industry she dare interact with besides Russell Simmons, who doesn’t deal with people who actually sing, and hasn’t had an active role in the business since selling his Def Jam label in the mid 90’s. Applying this to the Pempengco scenario that’s called “Winning By Default”.

And so away Charice went. Into the studio to record her “American Debut” album. It was promptly released about a year later in May of 2010, to little fanfare. The same month she went back on Oprah’s show and performed one of the songs from that album called “Note To God,” written by pop powerhouse Diane Warren. But in a truly mystifying move, Warner Brothers/Reprise Records decided to release an entirely different song to radio– called “Pyramid”– which had a whopping three-week airplay life at the contemporary pop/rhythm formats. The main reason given by radio programmers for the song’s failure and lack of connection to the coveted 12-24 music demo? The song just sounded too adult next to…..hit music by peers Justin Bieber and Miley Cyrus.

But what has happened since, is a fascinating mix of amazing and absurd.

More than anything it seems to be slowly morphing into a truly sad metaphor for how twisted up our values are in this country and how unbelievably disconnected they are, especially when we impose them on innocent people.

The most heart-wrenching part of this tale could potentially be the defining moment for Charice. At the end of June with her “Pyramid” single now off the charts and her debut album/aka dream languishing in obscurity, it was announced that Charice was added as a cast member to the smash hit television show Glee. No question this is a phenomenal, career-saving break for her.

Yet instead of embracing what will be her mark of greatness — Pinoy Power — she is already being taught to alter what makes her special. In a bombshell interview distributed by the Associated Press, this not-yet-media-savvy girl innocently reveals that in preparation for her television role she is getting cosmetic procedures to “look fresh on camera”. She is just 18.

Apparently this includes “non-invasive” procedures like Botox and Thermage to “make her naturally round face more narrow,” according to her plastic surgeon.

Source: eonline.com/videos

There is only one message this sends to impressionable young people, to a whole generation that is already overwhelmingly ethnic, of mixed heritages too like black and white, white and hispanic, black and asian, and an endless combination from there: Ethnic Is Ugly. Nothing could be further from the truth, yet here we have the most transparent example of it. A prodigiously talented Asian girl being told how to compete with another insanely talented Italian/Spanish girl for the biggest hit television show in America……WTH.

There is no other appropriate response except to put it all on BLAST.

“All people will be anticipating, ‘How will Charice look?” she says in the same interview, “is she good enough to pit against (Glee character) Rachel Berry? So of course there is tremendous pressure.”

Not one time does Charice mention her voice, her talent, her spirit and energy, and how THAT will pit so beautifully against Lea Michele’s (who plays Rachel Berry on Glee) amazing voice, talent, spirit and energy. These are things that can’t be altered, the marks of a True Star, the qualities that REALLY MATTER.

It is because of those intangibles that the stars are able to jump off the screen. Somebody tell Charice it ain’t really what it seems….

Author: divalina, xomba.com

Charice: “They Pull Me Down But Give Me Strength”

Capofret — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 12:11:45 +0000

International pop star Charice Pempengco has haters. A good number of them don’t hold back when they say she’s not good enough for the mind-boggling opportunities that come her way, the latest one being her stint on Glee. Still, nobody should be surprised that she can ignore the bitter rants and remain bubbly. She’s been through so much worse.

Just like Oprah

Like her good friend Oprah Winfrey, Charice’s childhood was troubled. In the November 2009 issue of YES!, Charice’s mother Raquel revealed that Charice’s father had been a drug addict who was prone to violent fits. In the same interview, Raquel recounted how her husband had kept the then two-year-old Charice away from her for three weeks. When he brought back Charice to her, the girl was horribly thin. It turned out that she had been eating plastic fruits. “Akala ko, Mommy, totoo, kaya kinain ko eh,” [I thought, Mommy, (it was) real, so I ate it] Charice had told Raquel.

When Charice was three, Raquel finally decided to leave their home. Raquel went on to raise Charice and her brother Kokoy on her own. But that wasn’t the end of Charice’s travails. A perennial winner in provincial singing contests she joined starting at seven years old to earn money for her family, she was constantly being picked on by her competitors. Then, in contests like Bulilit Kampeon, Birit Bulilit, Magandang Tanghali Bayan’s “MTB Popstar” and “Little Big Star,” Charice had to be content with the second or third place. When her career started to take off, she had to deal with naysayers who attacked her looks and height. “Tulad nga po ng sinabi ko no’ng nag-guest ako sa SNN [Just like what I've said when I guested in SNN], ”Tong pangit na ‘to, na-discover nila,’[This ugly (person), they discovered.]” she told YES!

Going viral

In 2007, 15-year-old Charice hit karmic pay dirt, when the video her fan Dave Duenas uploaded on YouTube caught the attention of Ellen DeGeneres, who invited her to perform on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. Soon enough, Charice flew to the States. She later bowled over US talk show maven Oprah Winfrey. It wasn’t long before she was rubbing elbows with international music stars like Celine Dion, Andrea Bocelli, David Foster, and, most recently, Justin Bieber.

To date, Charice has topped the Billboard Dance Charts in May with her first single “Pyramid” from her self-titled album. She also appeared in Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel. Now, everyone is waiting for her appearance in Glee.

Jumping with Glee

Charice has landed a plum role in “Glee,” as a Filipino (as she and her mother insisted to the producers) exchange student who will give the show’s resident drama queen Rachel Berry (played by Lea Michele) such “a run for her money,” that Berry gets so competitive she “contemplates murder.” Taping on July 28 or 29 for 10 out of 20 episodes of the show’s second season, Raquel told reporters after the press conference. “‘Di naman puwedeng mag-full [season] si Charice kasi madami din siyang commitment sa America.” [Charice can't be in glee for full season because she has also many commitments in America.]

Charice said, “Talagang di ako nag-expect na makakapasa ako kasi talagang that time nanginginig pa ako.[I really didn't expect to pass (the audition) because at that time I was shaking.]” To prepare for the show, Charice said she is working on her accent and acting skills, “Ang pinakaimportante po talaga ay ‘yung acting. Dun po kami nagfofocus talaga.[The most important is acting. That is where we are really focusing now.]” She is also taking voice lessons for the role, something that might come as a surprise to anyone who has heard her sing in person or even on TV. The petite singer showed off her vocal prowess at the concert after the press conference.

Little girl no more

Clad in high-waisted blue shorts, a boyfriend jacket and platforms–far from her frilly dresses and neneng look of yesteryear–and using a glittery Hannah-Montana-esque microphone, she dominated the stage with her thunderous voice. She even had some of the well-heeled crowd of Resorts World Manila, located at the posh Newport City in Pasay, gamely gesturing the Pyramid hand sign.

She addressed the audience in a mix of Filipino and English with a slight American twang. In between songs, she playfully announced her need for air or water, and even once quipped, “Nagutom ako ‘dun,[I got hungry there]” after seemingly effortlessly belting out songs. She performed only six numbers–our trip to the venue from Mandaluyong actually took longer than the entire duration of her set. To appease the clamoring crowd at the end of the show, she sang Justin Bieber’s “Baby,” which she previously covered on Perez Hilton, acapella.

Busy as a singing bee

With the overwhelming turn of events in her life, Charice, who turned 18 in May, says that she doesn’t quite feel like her age. “I’m 18 years old but I feel much younger and much older at the same time. I have time for play but I also feel mature for my age because of my past,” Charice told SPOT.ph at the press conference on July 15 for her concert series in Manila from July 15 to 17.

These days, she considers dealing with criticisms her greatest challenge but she also draws strength from them. “May mga taong nagta-try na hilahin ka pababa. ‘Yun ang pinakamahirap and at the same time, nagpapalakas sa akin. ‘Pag negative sila, dapat mapakitang mas positive ka sa kanila,” [There are people who try to pull you down. That is the hardest but at the same time, gives me strength. If they are negative, you should show that you are more positive than them.] she said at the July 15 press conference.

It sure looks like her strategy is working. She’s certainly come a long way from those small-town singing tilts.

Charice will country-hop for her first solo Asian tour starting with the concert at Resorts World Manila on July 15, followed by performances at The Venice Piazza on July 16 and Eastwood Mall Open Park on July 17. Afterwards, she will fly to Japan, Malaysia and Thailand, and then back to the US. Later this year, she’ll be part of the David Foster and Friends tour.

Charice has also come a long way from her first win of P7,500 cash with groceries, a cassette player and a trophy, as reported by YES! – but not quite the alleged $100,000 per show talent fee. Charice said, “Wala akong alam talaga sa talent fee. Pero I think sobra naman ‘yung $100,000. Nagsa-start pa lang naman ako.” [I don't know anything about my talent fee. But I think $100,000 is too much. I'm only just starting.]

Curtain call

Despite the good fortune brought by her singing, Charice admitted at the press conference that she didn’t want to be a singer forever. She reiterated that she would like to take up law, as previously reported. Skeptics might raise an eyebrow at her dream but she might just prove them wrong. Currently studying BA Communications at an Massachusetts-based online international university, she also reads law books. “It’s like my relaxation,” she told Reuters Television, as reported by ABS-CBNNews.com.

She said at the press con, “Gusto ko pa rin pong may marating talaga ako. Not as an artist pero ibang posisyon. Lawyer–ang taas ng pangarap ko (laughs). Kahit na matagal po ‘yun, magsisikap talaga ako.” [I still want to achieve something. Not as an artist but other position (or career). Lawyer - my dream is high (laughs). Even if it will take long, I will really work hard for it.]

Source: Spot.PH feature story

Posted by Capofret and Eve

An Encounter with a YouTube Sensation

schoen — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 10:28:48 +0000

English Translations from my Blog: SCHOEN

Thinking about writing a blog, my first question is, what could be the title? What could be more fitting to my story about my meeting with Charice and her mother? It is very pure and simple … a sensation!

When I heard from Charice’s manager from an episode of Charicemania’s Fantalk interview, that Charice will come to visit Paris, London and Germany, I’ve thought it might be my chance. But wait and see.

I already told the people I know in Chasters world to warn me, if there´s any information that will come out about this. But the wait was even longer than the plan. Until the last day …

Actually, I had to go to work but just to play safe, I have excused myself for that day just to be free.

Photo Gallery: Berlin, Germany (click to enlarge)

The Plan

I’ve actually got an email. It was Charice’s program for two days in Germany. As I´ve imagined it, far far away from me. First day: Munich, 5 hours from my home. Second day: Berlin, oh yes, certainly only a 5 hour drive. What do I do now?

First, I checked the train schedules. Oh dear, not very friendly (also not very cheap!). Then in the evening, I kept thinking about it thoroughly, if I should decide to go and to try my luck. I felt sick! My heart said: Yes, go! but my mind said, “You are crazy! Go! Later you will ask yourself … what if …? I even felt sicker!

Around 11:00 pm, I have decided! Berlin! Berlin! I’m going to Berlin! (Because it is World Cup time – we used to shout that) the train is leaving at 8:25, arrival 12:21 noon, taxi to the hotel about 5-8 minutes, Charice’s schedule for lunchbreak at 2:05 pm until the next appointment at 3:00 pm ! This is my only option. Of course, my train was late, it could have been perfect. Four people had to get on the rail tracks and walk along Hildesheim! Thirty minutes late! Super!

At the Hotel

As I arrived at the hotel in Berlin I asked at the reception where the interview is taking place with Charice, he didn´t know Charice. I said ok by Warner? He knew immediately. He thought I would interview Charice. That was funny! He wanted to call them! I said no, I don´t want to bother and I prefer to wait until it’s lunchtime. I had to go online on the internet first to let Mommy Raquel know that I´ll be waiting in the lobby.

Later, a young lady approached me and asked who I am. I said I’m Schoen from Charicemania. Mommy Raquel told her that someone´s waiting at the lobby. Wow! She´s picking me up! She works at Warner Music. She was very nice!

Mommy Raquel has stood up to greet me. We had to whisper only. Charice was on a phone interview. Charice looked so sweet. So cute and small. I looked at her, she looked at me, so shy. We got up and I hugged her. So slim, tiny and fragile.

I said, “I love this girl!” The representative of Warner, Nina asked “You have never seen each other before?” I said, “No, first time!” She laughed and asked me if I wanted to interview Charice before they go for a quick lunch.She was thinking about what they should eat. Mommy Raquel said Japanese perhaps. They said I should go too, but I have to catch my train. Charice had to change too. I asked if I should go out, she said, “No, Tita (aunt) I go to the bathroom.” She was not acting like a diva at all! Such a dear girl!

Little Things Needed

The air conditioning wasn´t working, I called the front desk. They sent someone to check. Mommy Raquel was looking for an iron because Charice’s blazer was crumpled. I called again. The maid came immediately. Mommy Raquel asked why they have no ice cubes for the water (it´s not usual here to have ice cubes!), I was told in ten minutes. I said “No! We were all in a hurry. In five minutes maximum, I said. In three minutes they were there. It works!

Mommy Raquel told me I should go with them for lunch and sleep with them at the hotel. I found that so sweet and very kind of her. I thanked her and promised her that next time I would try to plan that. I was told at the end of August or early September Charice will return to Germany!

Quickly now, we had to go down! On the way to the elevator, Mommy Raquel told Charice, “Ming (her nickname), a photo is important.” She said to take a photo of me because the other Chasters were asking. But we don´t have any pictures together! Tricked! No, there was no time left. In the elevator I gave Charice my thank you card. In the lobby, I just thought of letting her sign my two CDs. I took a quick shot of Charice and Mommy Raquel while I asked at the reception to please call me a cab. Then we had to go out already.

The BearLin

A guy dresed up as a bear was standing outside and Mommy Raquel wanted a photo, so we quickly ran out. Click once, then came Charice, another picture. Then they really had to go in the car. Time was running out and their manager was already there. Mommy Raquel introduced me quickly to Marc and he told me, “Nice to meet you.” Then another quick photo, he smiled because I said I’m his fan. And then a quick goodbye, and we all went, they went to their car service, I went to my cab (the poor driver had been looking for me and wanted to go in the hotel already!). I told him that I must reach the train station in 7 minutes! He said we are there in five minutes! I arrived one minute before the departure at the platform! Whew!

Reminiscing at the Train

Later in the train I read in one of my CDs: “Love You” and in the other: “Thank You!” from Charice. Did I say it already? I love this girl!

Charice kept singing the whole time when I was there. Mother and daughter are both very humble, unpretentious and Charice is very shy.

I am most grateful for this long but very exciting day, Charice and Mommy Raquel!

Source Link in German: Begegnung mit einer Youtube Sensation

Written, translated and posted by Schoen

Jaymes Foster Joins Charice Fan Talk for an Exclusive Interview

Charicematic — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 12:09:55 +0000

Jaymes Foster, the sister of music mogul David Foster joins Charice Fan Talk on Friday, June 25. Ms. Foster is a music producer who splits her time between Los Angeles and Victoria, Canada. She has worked with several artists including Charice, Josh Groban, Michael Bublé and Clay Aiken.

Charice, who is best known for belting out songs David Foster has produced and/or co-written for divas Dion (”The Power of Love”) and Whitney Houston (”I Will Always Love You,” “I Have Nothing”), is being mentored by both David and Jaymes for worldwide stardom.

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Archives: Charice Fan Talk
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Unexpected Harmony

Charicematic — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 05:05:26 +0000

OVER the last few months the four Filipino-American R&B singers from the San Francisco Bay Area known as Legaci have appeared on some of the biggest stages of American pop. There they were, belting perfect four-part harmony on “Saturday Night Live,” finger-snapping and line-dancing like the Temptations on “The View,” “Ellen” and “Today,” and crooning to a hysterical, sold-out crowd of 15,000 at the annual KIIS-FM Wango Tango blowout in Los Angeles. (They took the stage just after Kesha and Adam Lambert, just before Ludacris and Usher.)

If you’ve never heard of them, chances are you have heard of their boss, the teenage pop heartthrob Justin Bieber. Legaci’s members are his backup singers, which means that their camera time comes in blink-and-you’ll-miss-them flashes. Onstage they live between bursts of spotlight and the shadows of their perch at stage right. As they performed behind Mr. Bieber on “Saturday Night Live” in April, Ahmir Thompson, better known as Questlove, the drummer for the hip-hop tastemakers the Roots, singled them out on Twitter. He gave Mr. Bieber “cool points” for having “the Asian New Edition” as his backup singers.

They just might be the most visible yet invisible pop figures in the world.

Before joining Mr. Bieber’s touring group, they were rising stars on YouTube, now a crucial launching pad for Asian-American artists seeking the kind of exposure rarely afforded them by the mainstream recording industry.

“The stereotype is that we’re violinists or mathematicians,” the cultural critic Oliver Wang said. “So for a lot of industry executives there’s this disconnect when they see an Asian-American singing R&B. But YouTube is chipping away at that. It’s becoming a much more common sight.”

Micah Tolentino, 30, started Legaci with Jason Atencion (who has left the group) under the influence of R&B acts like Boyz II Men and Shai, in 1997, while in high school in Vallejo, Calif.

“Even if most people just know us as Justin Bieber’s Asian backup singers,” Mr. Tolentino said, “we’re proud to be out there, to show the world that Asian-Americans are talented.”

While the pop charts are a familiar home to African-Americans and Latino-Americans, they’ve been less hospitable to Asian-Americans in the United States.

“Asian-Americans are locked out,” said Phil Yu, who runs the pop-culture blog angryasianman.com. “There are definitely elements of racism, but it’s also that audiences are not used to seeing Asian faces on the pop charts or on music videos, and record labels won’t take a chance on that.”

Legaci can list its fellow travelers on one hand. There’s the Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger (her father is Filipino), the fledgling Filipino pop star Charice (who sings a duet with Iyaz on her first United States single, “Pyramid” ) and most famously, Allan Pineda, a k a Apl.de.ap, of the Black Eyed Peas.

“Mostly when you see Asian artists, it’s as D.J.’s or producers,” said Mr. Pineda, who was born and raised in the Philippines and immigrated to Los Angeles when he was 11. “You don’t really see people up front as singers or musicians. We’re always part of the background scene. We’re like the quiet storm.”

Mr. Pineda has sneaked two songs in Tagalog, “The Apl Song” and “Bebot,” onto Black Eyed Peas albums. “It’s going to be hard for a Tagalog song to ever be a single for the Peas,” said Mr. Pineda, who has started his own Asian-focused record label, Jeepney Music, and recently recorded “Take Me to the Philippines” under the auspices of the Philippine Tourism Department.

Christine Balance, a professor of Asian-American studies at the University of California, Irvine, points out that while Latin and black music have longstanding currency in the industry, there’s nothing comparable for Asian-Americans. “How do you market an Asian-American star?” she said. “African-Americans are foundational to U.S. popular culture, and for Latinos there’s the adjective ‘Latin’ music that’s used to describe a variety of musical forms. But Asians are still seen as foreign or alien to mainstream America.”

Yet the one place where Asian-American artists flourish in contemporary pop is on YouTube. The ninth-most-subscribed YouTube musician channel — basically a video home page that fans can subscribe to — belongs to the Korean-American pop singer David Choi (one spot behind Taylor Swift and 12 ahead of Beyoncé). Of the 50 most subscribed music channels at press time, 4 belong to Asian-American artists: AJ Rafael (178,117 subscribers), Kina Grannis (177, 560), Gabe Bondoc (143, 881) and Cathy Nguyen (140, 904). Since posting her rendition of “Airplanes,” the hit collaboration between the rapper B.o.B. and the Paramore singer Hayley Williams, a little over a month ago, Ms. Nguyen’s version has been viewed well over a million times; her take on Jason Mraz’s “Lucky” from a year ago, which begins with her declaring “My nose itches,” has topped five million.

“I never imagined for anything to happen when I posted my videos,” Ms. Nguyen wrote via e-mail. “Although I did secretly want to be a YouTube star.”

Other Asian-Americans with a notable presence on YouTube include singer-songwriters like Melissa Polinar and acoustic soul aspirants like Jr Aquino, Dawen, Jennifer Chung and Melvin Gutierrez.

“Asian-Americans want to see people who look like they do, who reflect their lifestyle, who speak English the same way they speak English,” Mr. Yu said. “Now for a kid growing up the most famous personality for them is not necessarily Lady Gaga but David Choi. That’s a big shift that wouldn’t have happened without YouTube.”

The Asian-American influence on YouTube has even been credited with bolstering the success of Andrew Garcia, a Top 10 finalist on this past season of “American Idol.” Mr. Garcia is Mexican-American, but he is married to a Filipina, and before the show he was on YouTube and had collaborated with Ms. Nguyen and Mr. Rafael. In early April, Legaci posted a video urging its fans to vote for Mr. Garcia.

“It was kind of like Andrew was repping for the Asians,” said Dominic Manuel, 28, of Legaci. “The Asian community is very supportive. Once they’re fans, they are rabid fans.”

The members of Legaci contend that many Asian-Americans turn to YouTube because they are unable to break through to the mainstream music industry.

“It’s very rare to hear an Asian-American on the radio,” Mr. Manuel said . “So we all had to find somewhere to go. YouTube levels the playing field. It was our chance to have our voices heard.”

It’s certainly a strategy that has worked for Legaci. The group tried the traditional route when it emerged in the late ’90s as part of a larger Filipino R&B boom in Northern California that included groups like Pinay, DNH and Kai. It performed in clubs and on college campuses, and released two albums of polished throwback R&B that mixed its own songs with covers ( “Little Black Book,” from 2006, and “Sessions,” a year later). The group also auditioned for television talent competitions with open calls: “American Idol,” “The Sing Off,” “America’s Got Talent” and MTV’s “Top Pop Group.”

“We tried them all,” Mr. Tolentino said. “And they all said the same thing, ‘You guys are great, you have great voices, but you’re not what we’re looking for.’ The first couple times we were like, ‘O.K., maybe we didn’t hit it that hard,’ but the more we heard it, we couldn’t help wondering: ‘Is it because of who we are? Because we’re Asian-American?’ We decided that if TV wouldn’t give us a chance, and major labels wouldn’t give us a chance, we would turn to YouTube.”

The amateur aesthetic at the heart of YouTube — singing somebody else’s songs in your bedroom or living room — had long been part of Legaci’s own upbringing. Its members all grew up singing pop and R&B hits on the karaoke machines of their Philippines-born parents.

“Filipino culture is based on performing,” Chris Abad, 28, said. “In the Philippines there’s a cover band in every restaurant, in every club. Everybody knows how to play guitar. You are raised to have music as part of your life. Our parents put that into our minds at a very young age.”

In 2007, Legaci began posting videos of itself doing mostly a cappella covers of Top 40 pop and R&B hits in the living rooms of its members (or of their parents). They were encouraged by the success of another Filipino from the Bay Area, Jeremy Manongdo, known professionally as Passion, who in 2006 went from being an unknown to racking up thousands of subscribers in just a few months.

“We actually had a meeting,” said Delfin Lazaro, 28, of Legaci, who had been a member of another ’90s Filipino R&B group, Next Phaze. “And we said, ‘O.K., we want to be the first Asian-American group to really make it, so how are we going to do this, since we didn’t have any money?’ We dedicated ourselves to our YouTube videos.”

The group has covered a few Boyz II Men classics, slowed Jason Derulo’s sparkling hit “Whatcha Say” into a plaintive, heart-melting ballad, and when it took on Iyaz’s “Replay,” Mr. Tolentino recreated its rhythms and studio effects using old-school hip-hop beat-box vocal techniques.

But it was Legaci’s version of “Baby,” the ubiquitous spring smash by Mr. Bieber, that changed everything. Joined by Ms. Nguyen and the rapper Traphik (another YouTube mainstay), the group stripped “Baby” of its slick production and re-arranged it into a passionate slice of pop.

The video was barely up for one day when the group received a call from Scooter Braun, Mr. Bieber’s manager, who just three years ago had discovered Mr. Bieber in much the same way, watching him perform his own cover versions on YouTube. Mr. Braun was so impressed with Legaci’s take on the song that he invited the group to join Mr. Bieber.

“I absolutely loved what I saw,” Mr. Braun said by phone from the Bahamas, where Mr. Bieber and Legaci were rehearsing for a summer tour. “I really wanted someone to be in the band who was from YouTube, so that Justin could give something back to the community that gave so much to him.”

Only a week after receiving the call Legaci flew to New York for rehearsals and then joined Mr. Bieber live on MTV and on New York’s top pop radio station Z100. The group has been pleasantly surprised by just how much it has been embraced by Mr. Bieber’s fans, many of whom now follow Legaci on Twitter and subscribe to its YouTube channel. The connection is not lost on Mr. Braun, who is working with Legaci on a record deal.

“The amount of exposure they get on the road with Justin is more exposure than they’d ever get working a single with a major label,” he said.

During the tour, which begins on Wednesday in Hartford and comes to Madison Square Garden in August, Mr. Bieber has made room in his set for Legaci to perform one of its own songs. It’s the kind of support that Legaci hopes will help let a generation of young music fans see that it is not unusual for Asian-Americans to be in the spotlight.

“We know how long it’s taken African-American groups to be totally accepted by the mainstream,” said Mr. Lazaro. “That will happen for Asian-Americans too. We want to open that door, and then we’ll bring everyone with us.”

Source: By By JOSH KUN, The New York Times. A version of this article appeared in print on June 20, 2010, on page AR1 of the New York edition.

This article is not only about Legaci, it speaks the struggles of Asians in the music industry.

There are Asian stars in sports, movies, television and classical music. But do you ever ask yourself, why there’s lack of Asian pop stars? I don’t know about you, but it kills me that mediocre artists get discovered and genuine talent gets overlooked because of the way they look.

Asian artists including Charice face difficult challenges:

*** OVERCOMING RACIAL STEREOTYPES — the perception that someone who looks Asian must be a studious geek; Asians are expected to play the piano or know kung fu, but not necessarily to sound like Michael Jackson or Madonna, or sell like them.

*** PENETRATION INTO MAINSTREAM AMERICA — making up only 4 percent of America’s population, they are too small a market, and too fragmented in language and nationalities, to offer a solid springboard for Asians the way other ethnic groups have done.

Again, this article is not only about Legaci, it speaks the struggles of Asians in the music industry. Charice is the first Asian solo artist to break into the Top 10 of the prestigious Billboard 200 and she is paving the way for Asian aspiring stars.

Success tastes sweeter when obstacles are encountered!
Posted by ADMIN

YES! Looking Back… Part 5

DrTp — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 19:22:14 +0000

YES MAGAZINE INTERVIEW NOVEMBER 2009 ISSUE

Part 5: THE UNTOLD STORY

Meanwhile, the staff of The Oprah Winfrey Show had also learned of the little girl with a big voice from the Little Big Star videos on YouTube. They decided to invite Charice to join the show’s “World’s Smartest Kids” episode. The show was to be aired on May 12, 2008, just two days after Charice’s 16th birthday.

Unlike Ellen, Oprah was someone Charice had seen on TV. Raquel didn’t have a clue. “I told her, the one that had Tom Cruise as a guest,” says Charice, referring to the controversial episode where the American actor was jumping up and down the show’s couch, proclaiming his love for the actress Katie Holmes.

So it was off to the U.S. again for Raquel and her daughter, this time to Chicago, home of Harpo Studios, the Oprah-owned company that produces the talk show. Day One was devoted to rehearsals, but while Oprah was in the building, she kept to her office. Her staff had already briefed her about Charice and how amazing the voice of this girl was. But Oprah told them she wanted to be surprised for the live show scheduled the next day.

Click each picture to make it larger and read the captions!

True enough, Oprah was bowled over during the show itself, where Charice sang Whitney Houston’s “I Have Nothing.” After a short on-cam interview, Charice and the host did not see each other again, and Raquel thought that was that. Just like in the Ellen show, Charice would have her less-than-15 minutes of fame and then be sent home to the Philippines. Her daughter would again be a star–but only for a day.

Little did they know that the hands of fate were already at work. On Day 3 in Chicago, Raquel and her daughter had already comfortably taken their seats on the flight that would take them back to Manila. The engines had started running. Suddenly, for some reason, they stopped. The plane entrance door opened, and in came two uniformed men looking for a Raquel Pempengco.

We let Charice tell the rest of the story. She says this is the first time she is telling the media about the day that changed her life.

“My Mommy said, ‘What’s going on? What’s going on?’ I said, ‘Mommy, they’re looking for you. Don’t raise your hands.’ But then, it might be something important so we eventually raised our hands. ‘Yes?’ They said that we should get off the airplane. It is all the more that we got scared. But we did get off the airplane. My Mommy said to me, ‘I told you we shouldn’t have raised our hands.’ The plane left without us, with our baggages still in it. We were already very excited to go home to the Philippines then. My Mommy was even asked, ‘Are you working with Harpo?’”

“My Mom said, ‘Oh, Harpo! Maybe you destroyed one of Oprah’s dolls, didn’t you?’ ‘No, I didn’t,’ I said. ‘Maybe it’s you Mommy. Maybe you took the shampoo from the hotel.’ We were just joking around because as you know, in reality, you can take the shampoo. But we were really nervous because we didn’t have any idea as to why we were being held. Then the police even asked me, ‘Are you famous?’ ‘No.’ ‘Then why (are) you so special? Why (does) Oprah want to see you?’”

“All the more that we became nervous. Why? Then we were just talking and then they brought us outside. My Mom incidentally was just wearing a sleeveless blouse. It was so cold. My Mommy said… (Charice pretends to shiver) She was shaking. We were then picked up by the limo. At this point, we’re still wondering about everything. Nobody has told us anything at all or have given us any clue as to what’s to happen.”

“We went straight to Harpo. When we got there, we were asked to wait at the office. They asked us, ‘Where are your baggages?’ We told them, ‘They were already on the plane headed to the Philippines, without us.’ So they gave us money so that we can buy some clothes, etc. But of course, we didn’t buy any.”

Why not? We ask.

“It’s because we don’t want to waste the money,” Charice answers, laughing.

Raquel and Charice were then sent back to their hotel and were asked to return to the Harpo Studios after two hours. When they returned, they were ushered into a conference room, but still had no idea why they were there. And then a door opened.

“It’s Oprah! She smiled and said, ‘Hi, sweet!’ Of course, I couldn’t just sit there. I gathered all the guts I can muster and I hugged her. She sat in front of me. She said, ‘I want to help you.’ Then she told me the story why she had asked me to come back.”

“She said that after I had performed, after I left, everyone in her staff was singing what I sang. Even when she got in her car, her two drivers were talking about me. So, when she was already lying down on her bed, it was me that she was thinking of. ‘How am I going to be able to help this kid?’ Even after she has already fallen asleep and had woken up, I was still the one she was thinking of. When she arrived at her office, she asked her staff, ‘Where’s Charice?’ ‘About to fly to the Philippines.’ ‘Stop the plane!’”

Raquel says she couldn’t stop herself from crying as Oprah talked to them: “It’s like, ‘My God! This is the angel that you’ve sent.’ My tears were just falling.”

Oprah asked Charice to tell her more about the Pempengcos’ life in the Philippines. Charice told her she had always wanted to sing, how many contests she had joined. She spoke of the struggles she had to go through growing up, even the abuse that her mom had suffered from her dad. She told Oprah, too, about the people who were telling her she didn’t have the right to dream of becoming a big star.

“I told her that there were many who were ridiculing me, saying that I am not talented. She was very angry, especially when I said that they were even telling me that I was not pretty. She then asked if I had a recording contract.”

Charice said she had none, and that she was already losing hope that she would ever make a career for herself in the music business. “Then, she said to me, ‘No! I promise you something big will happen.’”

Right then and there, Charice and Raquel became witness to how powerful this woman was who could stop an airplane only minutes before take-off. Oprah picked up the phone and dialed a number–David Foster’s number.

David Foster is a legendary music producer and composer on the international music scene. He has 15 Grammy Awards, and is most famous for co-writing the Whitney Houston hit “I Have Nothing” for the film The Bodyguard. He has worked with such music-industry top guns as Cher, Madonna, Barbra Streisand, and Michael Jackson.

Before Charice and Oprah met, the Filipina had already met David. His sister, Jaymes Foster-Levy, a music producer, had seen Charice on Ellen, and had sent the Ellen video clip to David (she also sent a copy to Oprah, but the staff never got down to watching it). Sometime after the Ellen show, Jaymes got in touch with Charice and brought the girl to meet her famous brother. David took a liking to the young talent, even bringing her to Las Vegas and showing her around. He treated the kid to a Celine Dion show–this was the first time Charice saw her idol in person. The young Pinay fan, armed with pen and paper, and camera, was ready to meet Celine at a party after the concert, but alas, the fan was a little too young to enter the club where the party was held.

But back to that fateful moment inside Oprah’s office.

“‘I want you to work with this kid.’ Blah-Blah, like this-like that,” Charice says, barely recalling Oprah’s words to Foster over the phone. “Then David said, ‘But she’s too young.’ ‘What?!’ They raised their voices already. David said that they still have to wait until I reach eighteen. Then the other said that it should be started now and not wait until I turn eighteen. But of course, in the end, David agreed.”

And so the wheels started turning for the Charice-for-Stardom machinery. In no time, she was part of Foster’s touring show, David Foster and Friends, which feautures the musician accompanying singers such as Peter Cetera and American Idol’s Ruben Studdard on the piano. Within a few days after her Oprah debut, Charice was debuting on the international concert stage via Foster and Friends at the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Last May 20, a year after her first appearance on Oprah, Charice was back on the daytime talk program to sing her first-ever international single called “Note to God,” backed up by an orchestra and a chorus. The song, a collaboration between Foster and Diane Warren, composer of Celine’s “Because You Loved Me” and other Oscar-nominated songs, placed Number 2 on Amazon.com’s MP3 Downloads Bestsellers and Hot New Releases” section within days of the launch, and climbed up to Number 9 on the Itunes chart.

Hooking Charice up with Foster was only the beginning of Oprah’s many surprises for the talented little girl. At a small private dinner that followed their meeting at Harpo Studios, Oprah had casually asked Charice who her favorite male artist was, and Charice’s quick answer was Andrea Boccelli. A few days later, Charice was sent to New York for an “interview” with a TV crew. She had no idea what the interview was for. The interviewer kept asking her about her experience on the Oprah show.

“I just kept on answering however which way I can,” says Charice, referring to her struggle to converse with the interviewer in English. And then the phone rang. Charice was handed the phone. “They told me to answer it. I asked, ‘Is this part of this?’ ‘Answer it!’ So I pressed the loudspeaker button. ‘Hi! Is this Charice?’ I said, ‘Yes.’ ‘Ah! This is Andrea Boccelli.’”

She couldn’t believe it at first and thought the heavy Italian accent to be Filipino. After a while, she burst into tears. “He said, ‘I would like to invite you in my birthday and sing with me The Prayer.’” The song is his most recognized hit, and Charice’s personal favorite. “That’s when I learned that Oprah called Andrea Boccelli so that I could do the duet with him.” Charice sang “The Prayer” with Bocelli at the Teatro de Silenzio in Tuscany in September 2008.

Thanks to Oprah, Charice also got to meet and work with two other musical idols of hers. Josh Groban and Michael Buble.

Alittle known fact about Charice is that she has kept a “dream journal” through the years. It’s a sketchpad on which the singer has drawn portraits of the music greats she dreamed of one day meeting. On the first page of that journal is Bocelli, and on the succeeding pages, Groban, Buble, Whitney, Mariah Carey, and Celine.

Click each picture to make it larger and read the captions!

The idea of a “dream journal” was right in Oprah’s alley. She is known for promoting the idea of a “gratitude journal,” where you list down what you’re thankful for everyday, and once devoted an entire episode of her show to the book, The Secret, which is all about having intense visualizations of your dreams for them to come true. When Oprah found out that Charice had a dream journal, she simply asked for it and the girl willingly gave it to her. Little did Charice know that she had met the one person that could make all those journal pages come to life.

The sketchbook is still with the talk show host, Charice says. And the young singer’s dreams are still coming true.

During the YES! Magazine interview and pictorial in August, she has just wrapped up the shooting and recording for her role in the new Alvin and the Chipmunks sequel, where she plays a slightly revised version of herself: a young girl with a big voice battling it out with the famous rodents in an inter-school singing contest. The producers decided to work Charice’s persona into the film after seeing her in the auditions. The movie is set to premiere in December.

The month-long holiday in the Philippines last August was a special request from Raquel to Mark Johnston, Charice’s manager in the U.S. She knows her daughter will again be working nonstop in the States from the first week of September to the second week of December. The Foster and Friends tour resumes in October, the same month she returns for another guest appearance on Oprah. Then there are the promotions for the Chipmunks film and for her first U.S. album, which she finished recording just before coming home for this month-long break. She is also part of a Christmas album featuring various artists, including Madonna and Carrie Underwood.

Is Oprah Charice’s manager? Raquel answers that Charice’s manager is Mark Johnston. So what is Oprah to Charice? Raquel figures that the lady is like a senior consultant. But when Raquel relates anecdotes about Charice’s career in the States, Oprah really sounds more like a fairy godmother.

Raquel once overheard Mark over the phone, asking Oprah if the Chipmunks project was a go. Yes, says the familiar voice on the other end of the line. How about this Disney script where she might play a rich, young rockstar type role that’s a little daring? No. Script proposals, raw photographs for album covers–all had to go through Oprah. And once in a while the talk-show queen would personally call Charice to check on her.

Though Charice has been hobnobbing with the rich and famous (she performed in three of the inaugural-ball parties for U.S. President Barack Obama), her mother keeps reminding her:

Don’t ever put it in your mind that these people that we get the privilege to encounter are famous people. Just think of them as our friends so that you will not get swellheaded. Like it’s just natural, like it’s just us.”

The one big gig that got away, however, was the Michael Jackson concert tour that was scheduled for this year. Jackson’s staff had seen a video of Charice performing “Billie Jean,” and had already gotten in touch with Charice’s U.S. manager. It would have been a real treat for the little girl, and Oprah would have approved.

Click each picture to make it larger and read the captions!

Still, there’s no reason for Charice to sulk over losing that one gig, no matter how important it would have been for any singer’s career. After all, thanks to Oprah, Charice has now met, or even performed with, every celebrity in her “dream journal.” Or has she?

Well, close. So who else is in her “dream journal”?

Charice, ever the kid, tells us: “The last page of that is Tweety Bird.”

Note: the captions in English were added in the photos!

Mouseover to read : Yes! Looking Back… Part 1

Mouseover to read : Yes! Looking Back… Part 2

Mouseover to read : Yes! Looking Back… Part 3

Mouseover to read : Yes! Looking Back… Part 4

Much thanks and gratitude to:
CTV Crew – translated by JaYrOx, edited by Appin, photos scanned by Bbelj
Posted by Ladies´Team CM: AF, Capofret, DrTP, Eve, Schoen